St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-23
IN THE WILDS OF WYOMING.
A Wealthy Man Living in Seelusion Far
Away From Observation-Disclosures
of Education and Refinement.

dwelling. Alphabetically it COM
bines the plains with the dug-out OF
the old log cabin of the oak openings.
In its isolation and security it is a cas-
tie; in hOmely simplicity and dreary
surroundings it is howell. From the
outside you would call it a potato Gel
lar or a moorland stable, but once
inside the oaken door you pro-
nounce it a museum of ma
tural history. The room is a
trifie longer than it is wide. Opposite
ianked on one side by large packing
box, used for washstand, and on the
other by plain cupboard. Against one
wall is rude bunk, made of boards,
filled with hay and covered with coarse
gray blankets. Over this. pendant from
a noble pair of antlerS, is Winchester
rifle, a cartridge-belt and hunting
knife. On the other side of the room is
a rustic bookcase. The floor is of clay.
hard and cold, save for the black bear
skin in front of the bed and the tawny
cayote hide by the stove. Scattered
about are traps of various sizes, chains,
fishing tackle, pelts, bird skins, gro
ceries and clothing.
The occupant is evidently hermit.
His character. for he is not at home, we
will discover from hasty perusal of the
books upon the shelves. He must be a
man of education and refinement.
Here is Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton
and Pope. Noyelists are represented
by Hawthorne, Cooper, George Eliot,
Thackeray, Scott and EDers. Kant,
Newton. Hamilton and McCOSh have
their place. Isis Unveiled" is beside
Atlantis" There are old magazines
and standard works on hunting, trap
ping and natural history, and in its old
leather covers is an edition of Cicero's
''De Seuectute," the title of which bears
the simple inscription: 9, Dartmouth
College, 1S4S."
Evidently our hero has more
of history than many of
the characters of modern tic-
ton. Here he comes now, through the
sage brush-a rifle slung on his shout
der, the hind quarters and hide of an
antelope on his back. GriZZled and
weather-beaten, his sixty odd years have
made him as tough and stury as the
gnarled oak. His kindly welcome as
sures us that he does not regard all
intruders as enemies, and we are soon
eating venisOn steak, using pocket
knives for forks, and drinking coffee
from the common cup. After supper,
as we sat around the warm fire and
cl0uded the atmosphere with fumes
from corneob pipes, he told US the story
of his life.
After his graduation he was smitten
with the gold fever, and after long
trip around the Horn reached California
in the spring of 1850. The next seven
teen years were spent III prospecting,
and his fortieth year found him dis
appointed and disLeartened man, so far
as wealth and worldly success were
concerned. The golden treasure was
always in sight, but never within his
grasp. As in hundreds of similar cases,
others reaped rich benefits from his
labors. Then he devoted himself to
hunting and trapping in the Sierra, along
Snake river, and finally in Wyoming,
where he had been for the last seven
years.
His friends are dead. He has no love
for the world from which he has been SO
long an alien, and he expects to die as
he has lived, alone. He is no longer
poor, but might live in comfort on the
savings of the past twenty years. But
no; he is too settled in bis life to
exchange it for the privileges
pelts and the skins of black bear and
''silver tips" do more than support him,
and his spare time is devoted to rewrit
ing his cOpious notes on the fauna of
the Sierra and Rocky mountains. And
so, unknown to life. he hopes to save his
name from oblivion by giving to the
world of naturalistS the result of his pa
tient study and observation.
Were his case an isolated one L should
not have mentioned it. But such is not
the fact. The mountains of the West
are full of misanthrOpic ThOreaus, of
men who love nature with all the in
tensity of Burroughs and John Muir,
who, for her sake, make their
homes in the wilderness and feel
absolute enjoyment only as she reveals
to them her secrets and hidden mys-
teries. Their hearts are the kindeSt
and softest, but at the same time their
natures are as rugged and infexible as
the mighty peaks among which they
live, and | reverence them as priests OF
those mysteries which are foreign to the
world of business and pleasure. Their
minds are far above the shop and the
ledger, and if their refining and elevat-
ing influences are felt only by the rude
cowboys and sheep-herders, with whom
they come in contact, their lives will